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Joan Vellutini decided to become a gardener when she was five years old.
Her teachers at Lowell High School didn't know what to make of a teenager
who dreamed of a blue-collar career. But her father's advice - to pursue a
career that makes you happy - fed her youthful determination. She attended
the Ornamental Horticultural Department at City College of San Francisco in
the early 1970s earning an Associate Arts degree in Landscape Maintenance
and Design, Nursery Management, and Greenhouse Production.
Her dream of being a gardener in Golden Gate Park became a reality in 1977,
though it took a class-action lawsuit to force The City to open the civil
service testing to women. She was assigned to the Urban Forestry Program in
1980 where she was introduced to working with volunteers and helped to
develop a public outreach program for school children and the public in
general. In the mid 1980s, Vellutini transferred to the west end of GGP
where she maintained the surrounding landscape of South Lake. She regularly
worked with Boy Scout troops, corporations, and school groups in planting CA
natives, controlling erosion problems, and restoring wildlife habitat. In
the early 1990s she transferred to the San Francisco Zoo and began working
with volunteers on the second Saturday of every month improving animal
enclosures.
In 1995, Vellutini transferred to the National Aids Memorial
Grove where her team spirit dovetailed with the Aids Grove commitment to
community involvement. Every third Saturday of the month, Joan supervised
hundreds of volunteers involving tasks such as pulling weeds, spreading wood
chips, habitat restoration, and help with construction projects. Joan
Vellutini has been very fortunate in her career with the City to have work
with many exceptionally talented city workers in the horticultural and
arboriculture field but also with the many supporting crafts from the
Recreation and Park Department's maintenance yard.
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